Dirt and dust might not destroy your new 2018 MacBook Pro keyboard

Apple seems to have taken steps with the 2018 redesign of the MacBook Pro to reduce the possibility of dirt and crumbs damaging the keyboard -- and perhaps put the brakes on future lawsuits that might arise as a result of jammed-up keyboards.

Back in March of this year, Apple filed a patent for a keyboard that could resist damage from dirt, crumbs, and other random bits of detritus that fall into they key mechanisms and jam up the works.

Well, fast-forward to this month, and it seems that Apple has incorporated this technology into the 2018 MacBook Pro, adding a thin rubberized layer under the keycaps to cover the second-generation butterfly mechanism.

The tweak to the keyboard was discovered by gadget repair specialists at iFixit during a teardown of the new laptop.

"This flexible enclosure is quite obviously an ingress-proofing measure to cover up the mechanism from the daily onslaught of microscopic dust," writes Sam Lionheart on the iFixit blog.

Apple made no mention of improving the durability of the 2018 MacBook Pro keyboard at its launch, but did state that it had been redesigned to help make the keys quieter.